Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2010

EF0 tornado, Vinson, Oklahoma, May 12, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 2.7 miles across Harmon County on May 12, 2010, touching down at 6:20 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 12, 2010
Touchdown
6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
Lifted
6:25 PM CDT (23:25 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
2.7 miles (4.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Harmon County
Touchdown point
34.972, -99.947
Lift-off point
34.994, -99.907
Record number
1005121720-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several supercell thunderstorms with large hail and tornadoes affected much of western Oklahoma during the late afternoon and early evening. The storms evolved into a squall line that brought numerous reports of severe weather, including particularly damaging winds and hail. A few locations that had received damage from the May 10 tornadoes saw additional damage.

The tornado was reported by an off-duty NWS employee. No damage was reported with the tornado and the location is estimated.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:41 UTC and running to 02:59 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:41 UTC02:59 UTCTornado WatchOUN
23:02 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:23 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:57 UTC00:18 UTCTornado WarningOUN
03:00 UTC08:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchOUN

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 22:21 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

11.3 hours before the tornado, 164 km from the path. May 12, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -88000, lifted condensation level 3606 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -83 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88000 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3606 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

0.7 hours after it, 164 km from the path. May 13, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-05-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -74817, lifted condensation level 4244 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-05-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 47 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74817 J/kg
Surface CAPE
54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
4244 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
9.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:19 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:40 UTCTORNADO14 E ShamrockWheeler, TX
23:00 UTCHAIL 1.754 W MayfieldBeckham, OKREPORT WAS BETWEEN MAYFIELD ADN SWEETWATER. TREE LIMBS WERE ALSO DOWNED.
23:05 UTCTORNADO5 S SweetwaterBeckham, OKERICK FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS A TORNADO.
23:25 UTCTORNADO4 Nw VinsonHarmon, OK
23:50 UTCHAIL 1.755 Nne MadgeHarmon, OKGOLFBALL SIZE HAIL OBSERVED ALONG THE GROUND ON HIGHWAY 30 IN NORTHERN HARMON COUNTY ABOUT 40 MINUTES AFTER IT FELL. HAIL COULD HAVE BEEN LARGER THAN THAT WHEN IT FELL.
23:51 UTCHAIL 1.7525 N HollisBeckham, OK
00:08 UTCHAIL 15 Sw SayreBeckham, OK
00:25 UTCHAIL 12 S CarterBeckham, OK
00:25 UTCHAIL 1.753 W CarterBeckham, OK
00:30 UTCHAIL 1.55 Ssw Elk CityBeckham, OKRELAYED BY NWS EMPLOYEE. LOCATION APPROXIMATE.
00:35 UTCHAIL 2.759 S Elk CityBeckham, OK

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 12, 2010

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 123:38 PM CDTEF0McPherson, KS0.875
May 123:52 PM CDTEF0McPherson, KS1.6100
May 124:16 PM CDTEF0McPherson, KS0.575
May 124:18 PM CDTEF0Reno, KS0.875
May 128:11 PM CDTEF0Butler, KS1.375
May 128:21 PM CDTEF1Washita, OK10.450
May 1211:52 PM CDTEF0Clinton, MO0.325$10,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.